Scattering Nami's Joy
by Alastair
Summary: When the crew enters a pirate race, Nami must choose between saving Luffy from the crazy rules or returning to Arlong, but she finds it's getting harder to decide. Friendship, LxN, Pre Arlong, and prequel to 'A Log Pose to Nami.' COMPLETE
1. Scattering Nami's Joy

**Scattering Nami's Joy**

_When we honestly ask ourselves which person in our lives mean the most to us, we often find that it is those who, instead of giving advice, solutions, or cures, have chosen rather to share our pain and touch our wounds with a warm and tender hand. The friend who can be silent with us in a moment of despair or confusion, who can stay with us in an hour of grief and bereavement, who can tolerate not knowing, not curing, not healing and face with us the reality of our powerlessness, that is a friend who cares._

_- Henri Nouwen_

_Going Merry_ danced on the waves, and Luffy danced with her, grinning as he gripped the horns of her head. He heard the storeroom door open, and he grinned at Nami when she exited it. Smiling back, she walked across the deck to climb up the stairs.

She said after a moment, "It's not safe up there. The slightest wave could send you over."

"You'd save me."

"Zolo can save you," she said. "I'll just point you out to him."

"Yeah, and you'd save me."

Her auburn eyes pinched as she frowned at him, but she then shrugged, "I guess that would be saving you. How about you just don't fall off though?"

"Okay!"

"Saving you would cost you anyway," she said, leaning her hip against the railing. His eyes dropped toward her waist, and she blinked in astonishment when his eyes were on hers again as if they had never left.

"I know," he said, and he turned back to the ocean, his smile never leaving his face. When he didn't hear her walking away, he glanced over his shoulder. "Hm? Is there something wrong?"

"No," she said, but he frowned, and took her wrist. "What?"

He grinned, and said, "Do you want to fish with me? Usopp fixed the poles already."

He saw the abrupt, wary hesitation in her eyes, and his thin brows furrowed, confused when she shook her head angrily, snapping her hand away. She said, "No thanks."

Blinking, he watched her go, his hand still in place where he had taken her wrist, and it remained hovering there for a moment before he turned back around, hunching his shoulders in pensiveness. After giving some thought to the matter, Luffy decided with a nod, _PMS._

Hopping off the figurehead, he ran over to Zolo with a grin, and poked at the sleeping man's cheek, "Oi!"

Zolo made a great huff and fuss about being woken up, and grunted at the captain unintelligibly before he squinted blearily, saying, "Is it breakfast?"

"Nah," Luffy said. "Usopp's still making it, and I'm" – Zolo closed his eyes, but Luffy pinched his cheek to keep him awake, talking as if nothing had happened – "bored. You have to do something with me. Nami's being mean again, and she won't go fishing with me."

He seemed to regard his captain seriously for a long moment before he said, "You just want to go fishing?"

"Yeah!"

"Fine," he said, surging to his feet, and he scratched his neck. "I can take a nap while we fish anyway." Luffy pouted at that statement, but ran to the storage room for the newly fixed fishing poles.

As he entered, he saw Nami heading down into her room. Waving and smiling at her, he then blinked in bewilderment when she gave him a vacant stare before slamming her door shut. Standing in the storeroom a bit longer, his hand twitched, and his lips and face and eyebrows twisted into deep befuddlement. The more he thought about her oddity, the more he wanted to reach out and take her hand again – to tell her that she could come fishing and laugh with him and Zolo.

Spying the shelf which held their stationary set, he took out a piece of paper, and scribbled words onto it before he folded it haphazardly, slipping it down through the crack of her door.

Luffy picked up the fishing poles, and left.

!#$&()+

It was some hours later that Luffy finally caught something. He and Zolo had eaten with Usopp during the wait, Luffy's eyes never leaving their lines. Near the middle of the day, he reeled up a large tuna that he boasted about merrily to a sleeping Zolo and grinning Usopp.

He said, "I could chop that up now for some sushi if you want."

"Sushi!" Luffy said, pumping a fist into the air.

"Come on," he said. Luffy followed Usopp into the kitchen, leaving his first mate snoring beside his own line, and the two gutted the tuna before the long-nosed boy was cutting it and starting on the rice.

Sitting at the table to watch, Luffy only glanced at the door when it swung open, and Nami entered to sit across from him.

"Hey," he said, his eyes glued to the tuna once more with his mouth watering. When he felt her eyes continually on him, he looked back at her inquisitively. "Yeah, Nami?"

When her lips pursed in thought, Usopp turned to say, "Oh, Nami! You want some sushi? Luffy caught a big tuna. I'm cutting it up right now." He waved a hand idly when her gaze switched to him, "It's nothing fancy though, sorry."

"That's fine," she said. "Sushi sounds good."

Luffy said, "Fishing sucks today. That's all I've caught all day. Zolo's still out there with a line out though, so maybe he'll catch something too." Her lips pinched further as he spoke, and then he said, "You should come fish with us, Nami. It's fun!"

"Yeah, Zolo seems ecstatic," she said, raising a thin brow at him, but he shrugged, still grinning.

Usopp looked out the window toward Zolo before he cocked his head, "Hey, is that an island over there?"

"Island!"

Running out the door, Luffy stretched his arms out to catch the lamb's head, and then sat on it, beaming sunshine. He heard Nami say, "We should dock here, and stock up on food again. _Somebody_'s been eating all of it."

He looked at her, "Who did that?"

"You did!"

"Is that why you're weird today?" Her back straightened, and she appeared as if she wanted to glare daggers through his chest, and thus stab him to death. Nodding, Luffy said, "Okay."

"What?" She said.

"What?"

Her brow lowered in anger, and her fist clenched so she could shake it at him, "What the hell are you talking about, Luffy!?"

He stuck his tongue out at her, and said, "You're not making any sense."

Grabbing his neck and shoulders, she attempted to either strangle or shake him, and said as he tried to get her hands off him, "You're the idiot that doesn't make sense! Okay, what? What's okay, Luffy!?"

Yelping, he tried to pull his entire body out of her grasp, but the lurch caused Nami to come with him, collapsing awkwardly on top of Luffy. He exhaled from the sharp force of her landing, and blinked up at the sky, his hands on her shoulders to keep her steady. When he got air back into his lungs, he looked her over only to see her face appeared as if painted burgundy. She pitched his hands off her shoulders, and stood up, adjusting her t-shirt sleeves before she stomped a foot between his legs and just below the goods. Luffy's eyes narrowed on the foot, and decided that it would be safer to edge away from said foot.

She said coolly, "I'll be in my room until we reach the island. The door will be shut."

He blinked slowly, and said, "Really?"

Raising her head higher, she fumed, and turned away to go to the railing, reaching into her pocket to take out the stationary. She waved the paper at him as if he wasn't watching and was attempting to garner his attention. Nami then pinched it between two index fingers and two thumbs before she shredded it into pieces, letting the paper catch in the wind and float off the ship.

She said, "Really."

Usopp looked at Luffy when she was gone, and sniggered, poking his shoulder, "Having a lover's spat now, huh?"

"A what?" He rubbed his shoulder, and stood.

"You and Nami are fighting, I mean."

"No," Luffy said, "we're not."

He said, "Then what was that all about? She seemed pretty angry to me, Luffy."

"Yeah," he said. He grinned at Usopp, and gestured at him to follow close, going to the mast, and opening the door that lead into their bunker. "Come here," he said, and then jumped inside.

The other boy frowned, and scratched his head, but he went with Luffy, sitting beside him as he pulled out paper and pens. Starting to draw, Luffy grinned at him briefly. With a sigh, Usopp shrugged, and pulled out a sheaf of paper, staring at it for a moment before putting the pen down to sketch. As he finished, Luffy had already stacked about twenty-odd papers into separate envelopes, and Usopp looked certain that the pictures reached nowhere near to his own skill. Signing the picture that he had drawn of the _Going Merry_, he put it into an envelope as well, raising an eyebrow at him.

"So what are we doing?"

"Drawing."

He said, "Well, I know that, but why are we drawing?"

"They're for Nami."

Sighing, Usopp said, "She's mad at you though. What makes you think she won't rip these up, and toss them out too?" He licked the envelope to close it, and said, "What did you draw before?"

"Nothing." A smile that rivaled the sun lit upon his face, and he made a stack of the envelopes together before he went to the door that led from their bunker to Nami's room. It was rarely used, but was in plain sight and easily accessible in case of emergencies. Luffy began to press the envelopes through the crack between the door itself and its doorframe. After he was almost through with his stack, the door swung open.

Nami hissed, and said, "What are you doing?"

"Opening the door," he said, and she slammed it in his face.

Smiling, Luffy left the room. Usopp looked at his closed envelope before he signed it _From Captain Usopp_ before he pressed it through the crack, and then went after the rubber man.

!#$&()+

"Disestablishmentarianism," Zolo said.

Luffy blinked rapidly, opened his mouth, and then shut it with a miserable appearance before he finally said, "Distribute … tanism?"

Throwing back his head, he barked out laughter, holding his stomach as if in pain, "No, no, Luffy!" He calmed down, wiping tears of mirth away before he said again, "Disestablishmentarianism."

"Distracting mentalist," he said, and Zolo covered his mouth, snorting through his hand.

"No, disestablishmentarianism," he said, the wide smirk of a grin seemed to be a new permanent feature of his usually monotone face.

Frowning, Luffy cocked his head to the side before he waved to Usopp and Nami, "Hey! Over here!"

Usopp tilted his head, his thick lips forming a pleasant grin, laughing, "What the hell are you two doing way out here?"

"We got lost," they both said at once.

"You guys usually just keep moving despite being lost," Nami said. Luffy noted that her smile was back. "What kept you from continuing to walk around and get more lost?"

"We couldn't agree on which way to go," Zolo said.

"So we stopped here," Luffy said, and lifted up a box that he and Zolo had bought a few hours ago, "and had our pirate bentou!"

Usopp blinked, and said, "Pirate bentou?"

"Yeah, chock full of meat!"

Swirling what sake was left in his bottle, Zolo said, "I had my swordsman bentou."

"There's no such thing as a pirate or swordsman bentou!" Nami pointed at the bottle, "And that's not even a bentou, it's just a bottle of sake."

"Whatever works," Zolo said, and he swished another swallow down while Luffy sniggered at the look on her face.

Throwing her hands up, she then said, "Fine, whatever. Let's just get going now. Usopp and I already bought what we need."

Frowning, Luffy said, "We just got lost though. I want to do something."

"We can do stuff on the ship too," she said. "Let's just go. Don't you want to get to the Grand Line?"

Seizing her wrist, he got up, and began to take her further into the forest, "Come on! We can still have an adventure while we're here!"

"What – but! Luffy!"

She looked pleadingly back at the other two, but Zolo laughed and Usopp smiled as they went after the captain. Feeling the fight drain out of her, Luffy let go of her hand, and continued to run, smiling back at her to encourage her smile and for her to run with them. Nami was soon leaping and bounding with the rest of them through the forest, following Luffy to wherever he so wished to be at that moment – though none knew of what that place might be or become.

Stopping when he reached a river, he grinned at his crew once they joined him. Zolo pointed out at the other side, and said, smirking at the captain, "Should we try to cross it?"

"No," Usopp said, planting a foot onto a boulder, and he pointed toward the sky. "We shall conquer it as our own!"

"Okay! What'll we call it?" Luffy said.

"Guys," she said, "it's called the-"

"The Great River Usopp!"

"No way! It's Bear Cub River!"

"Spring of Sake."

Luffy made a face at Zolo, puckering his lips and bunching up his cheeks, and said, "That's no fun. You got to think big like Giant Oxen Face River!"

"None of your names make any sense!"

Looking at the navigator, he said, "Nami likes my names, right?"

"That's not what the river's called! It's the Blue River."

"That name sucks," all three said, and she blinked at them as if they were mad.

Climbing onto the boulder that Usopp's foot was still on, Luffy then crossed his arms over his chest, and let his hat fall back to rest on his back, and he said with an even bigger grin, "Nami, I charge you with the task of renaming this river!"

She sighed, and rubbed her temples, appearing tired, though he felt his smile grow when he saw the delight in her eyes. After a moment of consideration, she started to climb onto the rock, almost having to stop halfway before Zolo and Usopp pressed up on either foot to help lift her, and Luffy grasped her hands. Once she was standing upon the rock, she grinned, and said, "I name this river … the River of Sparkling Sapphires!"

Giving her a thumb up, Luffy said, "Now when you make your world map, that's what you have to put for it."

"Yeah!" Usopp pumped a fist, and then pointed down the river, "Now, Captain Luffy, let's rediscover new shores!"

"Aye, aye, Captain Usopp!" He jumped down to join him, and the two laughed while they ran down the shore, leaving Zolo with the task of getting an irate Nami down from the boulder. "Cool tree!" He said abruptly, slinging an arm up to catch the ridiculously large branch that stretched out several yards before it shot upward at a right angle. Keeping balance, he walked easily to the place where it shot upward unexpectedly, and he waved to his crew. "Let's name this too!"

"The Little Giant," Usopp said, and when Luffy stared in confusion, he then said, "It looks like someone's arm up in the air. So it must be a little giant, right?"

Snickering once more, Luffy nodded, and jumped down, "Yeah!"

"Who would name a tree?" Nami said.

"Trees need names," said Luffy as if it were natural. "You have to mark this place on your world map too."

Her smile returned, and she said, "All right. Fine, the Little Giant will be there."

"Great," he said. "Let's go!"

It was some hours later that they reached the beach, and it was to their great surprise that they found several hundreds of people holding some sort of carnival. Luffy's eyes lit up when he saw the flag proclaiming the name of the event. The flag itself was not spectacular or fancy. It was faded black with gray paint that used to be white forming the shape of the normal pirate emblem – though for bones it was a main sail with oars crossed behind the skull – and the words appeared as a translucent red, peeling from the sun and wind.

Feeling his adrenaline swell, he ran ahead, hearing his crew echo, "The Captain's Chase?"

!#$&()+

… _Keeping things from becoming total angst is going to go down the drain next chapter – I'm sure of it. In which case, I apologize now, and then shall be glad that not one of you knows where I live. Oh, and for this story only, I'm going to try putting a little quote in the beginning of the chapter – along with the usual title – so … tell me whether you like them or not. Don't forget to review! I want to finish at least one chapter per week, so I need the encouragement!_

!#$&()+


	2. The Captain's Chase!

**Scattering Nami's Joy**

_The Captain's Chase!_

_Toward the Western Sunrise!?_

_Thy friendship oft has made my heart to ache; do be my enemy – for friendship's sake._

_- William Blake_

There were broad shoulders, and thin shoulders, and a pair of shoulders with a long straight back and a cheerful gait. She wanted to reach out and touch the contours of them, but she couldn't dare – only left to wonder over them, and on whether they could support the weight that she bore. Nami couldn't let them know anything, naturally. _Anything_ that she told them would only hurt them more.

When she would leave – of which there was no doubt – she wondered how those straight, tall shoulders would take that enormous weight, yet, Nami could only picture them buckling before that wonderful man underneath was crushed. His gait would no longer be buoyant, and his back – so proud and level – would bow and crack at her passing.

More than ever, she wanted to feel their shoulders, and test their fortitude. Against Arlong, however, she knew that there was no such thing as that in human men that faced him, so she hung away, unable to dare to dream or hope.

She didn't want to destroy what courage that she had seen.

Nami had been too long away from Arlong, and she knew he wouldn't appreciate her to be missing for much longer. Once that straight, even back was turned, she wanted to leave hastily and without trouble before he gave her another earth-shattering smile, and reached into her belly to twist her insides inside out and upside in all the wrong places. _But, oh,_ she thought, _I wish you could always smile like that, Luffy. Be angry, and then forget about me, so you can keep smiling. That's all I want._

Luffy turned around at the edge of the crowd, and smiled at her, ripping her innards anew, but she smiled back. He said when she and the others reached him, "This place is so cool!"

Everything turned and spun and ran dark blotches in the corner of her eyes when Zolo and Usopp laughed, and then Usopp touched her shoulder, saying, "Oh, look, Nami! There're fritters here. Let's go get some."

"Well, it seems kind of fun here," she said, relenting under his gaze. She had the sudden urge to thank him for that beautiful picture, but she wondered if that would mean she was surrendering to what Luffy had written to her, and if Luffy would somehow know.

She glanced at him as she and Usopp went to a vendor, but he was enthusiastically speaking with a wary appearing Zolo. As well, he should be suspicious!

The entire carnival-like atmosphere was heavily stamped with the smell of cold sweat, money, dirt, and pirates. Every other person was such a stereotypical pirate nature that she wanted to shake sticks at each one that passed by, but held herself back.

After ordering a fritter for herself, Usopp, and Zolo, she made sure to get at least five for Luffy before they returned. A loudspeaker connected to a den den mushi then spoke up, drowning out the noise of the carnival crowds. Nami shaded her eyes to see the tall man at a podium with a receiver in hand.

He waved an arm eloquently, and bowed, "Fair, genteel pirates! I bid you a great welcome to this most opportune of events! This year, the Captain's Chase is made more popular by the increase of prize money by our generous benefactor, Captain Zed!" A cheer rose up, though she and the others only watched curiously. "I thank everyone for coming to join us – whether you are a spectator or just another pirate willing to risk everything to be on top!"

She grimaced when she saw Luffy's eyes light up and sparkle, and he shoved the rest of the fritters into his gullet before turning to them. He said, "Let's enter the race!"

"Luffy …" she started to say.

"The prize this year has increased to a grand ten million berries!"

Nami gave him a victory sign, her eyes beginning to sparkle with his, "That sounds like a great idea!" _Ten million would close the gap!_

Nodding hard, Luffy sniggered, and jumped excitedly in place, "Let's go find out where to sign up!" He took her wrist again, and she jolted in surprise as she always did at his warmth. The abnormal sensation of rubber over a heartbeat was oddly comforting even as she realized how traitorous her thoughts had actually been, but he didn't seem to notice any change in her demeanor.

Dragged along by the boy, she glanced back to see Usopp and Zolo coming after them. Zolo shook his head, looking quite irritated as he said, "I thought we were going to leave soon. What're we doing entering a race for?"

Luffy said, "It'll be fun!"

"Exactly," she said, and ignored his flat stare at her back. "Winning treasure is fun!"

"Of course," Usopp said, and shrugged at Zolo with a good-humored smile, obviously not thinking that the race was too dangerous. A quick glance around the vicinity from the sharpshooter made him say, "I see a booth over there. We could ask them about the race." Going on ahead of them, he then nodded to the man behind the booth, "Our crew wants to sign up for the Captain's Chase."

"Hmm?" The pirate's whole face contorted into bewilderment after he glanced at the four, and then he laughed, "That's a riot!"

"What? You're not taking us seriously?" Nami rolled her eyes when she heard that come from Luffy's lips of all people, but kept her mouth shut regardless of the amusement in her eyes.

With a chuckle, the man wrote something down on a roster, and nodded, "Oh, no, I do take all applicants seriously – it's just that there are so few of you. There, you're signed up for the race now." Abruptly his lips twisted strangely as if he was manically happy about something, and he said, "So."

"So?" Luffy said.

"Who's the captain?"

For once, Usopp seemed too disturbed by the man to claim the title, but Luffy was naturally unperturbed by his reaction, and raised his hand in a wide arching wave, practically shouting in the man's face, "I am! I'm Monkey D. Luffy. Nice to meet you."

"Great," he pointed with his thumb toward the podium. "You need to go meet with Captain Zed up there then. Alone."

Nami bit her tongue when Luffy immediately nodded, and waved to them with a grin that shot through her belly, splattering the ground and his face with her gory betrayal. He said, "I'll see you in a bit!"

_No, you won't,_ she thought as he walked away, and decided to keep the memory of his majestic, straight shoulders as he walked away in her for all time. She was certain that it would be the last time he would walk so incredibly tall in his life.

Her eyes widened just slightly when he glanced back at her and smiled once more.

That fixed into her mind more firmly than his straight gait.

!#$&()+

_Nami stared at Luffy as he worked with his head down while he made tiny incisions in the heart he was holding. At one point, he stabbed through it with his knife, and twisted the blade several times before he pulled it out to begin anew on slicing the heart to agonizing ribbons._

"_Is that mine?"_

"_Yes," he said._

_Tilting her head to the side, she felt at her breast before she realized that she was naked and bared to him, a deeply gouged gash in the middle of her bosom to show the hollow contours of her chest cavity. She said when he slit a hole into one of the caverns of her heart, "Why did you take it?"_

_Luffy ignored her, continuing to dice with the knife, and she could make out the small shape of her tattoo engraved just on the other side of her heart – the side that he had yet to see. Fear gripped her, and he paused in the slightest to stab the heart harshly in his clutches before she relaxed. She began to crawl toward him, reaching out for her heart._

"_Give … give it back," she said, and her fingertips grazed her beating heart, but he pulled it out of her reach only to keep cutting. "Stop it … I can't let you see … Don't look at it! Luffy!"_

_Finally regarding her with a long measured stare from under the brim of his hat, he said, "You're the one that did this."_

"_What?" Nami trembled, and said, "No, I didn't do anything. You're the one that's hurting me. Please, just stop already,_ _and give it back."_

_Spearing through it once again, she abruptly realized that not only had he stabbed through the flesh of her heart, but also the tip of the knife had been wedged down into his hand, and sticking out the back. She stared, transfixed by the spectacle, and it took her a few long minutes to see that there was no blood – not from him or from her heart – but the knife was so deeply imbedded, and she wavered._

"_Am I really hurting you, Nami?" She shook her head again, and then swallowed nothing when he yanked the blade out. "You did it to yourself."_

!#$&()+

She touched the tattoo on her shoulder lightly before she pulled her t-shirt on, and then left her room, hoping that the two were asleep so it would make everything that much easier. Nami found them sitting up on the deck with breakfast however, obviously having not been able to sleep well at all. The pirate, after sending Luffy on his merry little way, had told them to return to their ship, and dock it near the bay south of the town after sunrise that next day so they could begin the race.

Luffy hadn't returned that night.

Sitting with the two, she wondered if that really was such a good thing. She wanted to find a way to get rid of Usopp and Zolo before they had to commence in this ridiculous race, but her thoughts kept turning to what exactly happened to Luffy.

Finishing his meal, Usopp then shook his fork slightly as if to make a point, and said, "Just what the hell is Luffy doing anyway?"

"He's probably lost," Zolo said, and the other boy nodded in agreement after awhile with a nervous laugh.

"Yeah, that's it. Make sense to me at least," he said, but his eyes looked pointedly toward the forest on the edge of the town. "I just wish he'd get un-lost, and come back."

Nodding quickly after seeing an opportunity in their predicament, Nami said, "You two should go look for him then. I'll get the ship to that bay."

"No," Zolo said after a moment of thought. "He might still be at the fair, waiting for us. He would get lost just to miss the race. It was his idea to go on it anyway." Standing, he nodded up the beach, and said, "So let's get ready to go. Luffy's waiting for his crew to come have a race with him."

"The bay's the other way," Nami said.

Grimacing at her, he turned toward the beach, and, pointing up toward the town, he said, "I knew that! It's that way."

Stifling a laugh, Usopp said, "You're kidding me, right?"

"South, Zolo," she said, waving a hand at him as she laughed. "The bay is south of here."

The swordsman made a great huff and puff as always, but seemed to think that keeping his mouth shut was the safest route from digging a deeper hole – not that Zolo would be able to traverse even that route should he have taken it anyway.

Rising, Nami figured as they went to work that it would be best to lose the crew during the excitement and confusion of the race, though it was not the way in which she wished to leave them. With Luffy gone, it was easier for her to think about leaving them for Arlong, but should that man with the straight back and shoulders smile at her again, she didn't know how she could abandon them all.

As the bay came into view, she frowned at the large array of pirate flags that were flying from masts, and she glanced up at their own Jolly Roger with a little frown. _I always seem to be involved with pirates,_ she tried to think rationally. _There's no reason that these guys are actually different from all the others anyway. Pirates are all the same, and that's how they'll always be. One little smile from a pirate shouldn't pain me so much._

Yet then, Luffy had stared up into the sky, face up on his back, and said, _"I hate them."_

_I hate them too,_ she agreed, _but I hate you more._

"Fair, genteel pirates!" A familiar voice took up, swallowing the sound of the pirates' chatter, "The race will begin in a few minutes, but allow me to reestablish the rules of this engagement for veterans, and to inform any new crews in our ranks. The Captain's Chase is a long tradition of our kind, and stands to show the loyalty and dedication of the crew to their captain." Nami looked into the water. "As such, a pirate captain has never taken part of the race itself!"

"What?" She raised her head, and stared hard at the man with the den den mushi, watching him turning back and forth on the rowboat while a man rowed him down and across the bay for show.

"The rules are simple! Retrieve your captain from the Marines before they lob his head off in three days, and lose the Marines on your way back to the bay. You cannot return if you can't shake the Marines off your tail. You cannot return with a dead captain. You cannot return without your captain. That is all! This year, the Marine Base we've chosen is on the Isle of Western Sunrises!" The man with the den den mushi seemed to notice their crew, and he picked up something from the floor of his rowboat, and waved Luffy's straw hat at them.

"You!" Usopp pointed accusingly at him, "What's the meaning of this!? What do you mean by getting our captain back? Why do you have his hat?"

"Ah, newcomers, I see. You must be Monkey D. Luffy's crew," he said. "It's simple, really. Last night, the captains of the applying crews were sent to a Marine Base." He gestured briefly with Luffy's hat, and said, "Your captain asked me to give this to you for safe-keeping."

Tossing it toward them, Usopp bent over the railing to catch the brim in his hand before he righted himself on the deck with help from Zolo. He plopped it onto his bandana-covered head, and saluted, "I … I guess I see then … Now I'm _really_ glad I kept my mouth shut." Turning to the swordsman, he said in a decisive and authorizing voice, "Zolo, I leave it to you."

"Idiot! We all have a part in this!" He smacked upward on the brim of the hat to fling it off Usopp's head. It hit the deck, and Nami felt a shock of ice through her before she knelt down swiftly to pick it up.

She said, "Don't do that! We shouldn't start fighting about who's doing what anyway – it's silly. We need to get moving to that base right away."

"Indeed," the man with the den den mushi said, pulling out a gun that he pointed toward the sky to let loose a bullet with a thunderous noise. "Let the race begin!"

!#$&()+

_To be honest, I don't expect this story to be very long. In actuality, I don't want it to last long either because I want to upload something for Nami's birthday – it just needs to be long enough. Review as much as you can so I can upload it quickly! We should be right on time for her party then._

**onepiece fanatic: **_No! Prequel! Though it's almost the same thing anyway. :D Thanks for reviewing!_

**iluvchocs: **_Arlong, I think, always has a factor on Nami – Pre-Arlong at least – so he doesn't necessarily have to be around her to have a major impact on her actions and decisions, but __**sometimes**__ … Fufufu! Okay, since you asked so nicely, I'll keep the quotes. XP Thanks for reviewing!_

**dbzgtfan2004: **_Do you have some copy and paste thing all set and ready or something? Oi, heso! Thanks for the review though! It's diehard fans like you that I write this stuff for anyway!_

**catho: **_:D Aw, thanks! The chapter seemed kind of rushed to me, but as long as people are interested despite that, I suppose that I can leave it be until I can go through it again if I need to fix it. Thanks for the review!_

**Nuit Fleur: **_Indeed. What really happened with disestablishmentarianism is that I wanted to see if I still knew how to spell it, so I typed it in right there, and then wondered if Luffy would be able to say it. He got somewhat close, right? Thanks for the review!_

!#$&()+


	3. The Rainy Day!

**Scattering Nami's Joy**

_A Rainy Day!_

_Captain Zed's Fame!_

_Think of all the beauty that's still left in and around you and be happy!_

_- Anne Frank_

Nami folded the picture, putting it back into the envelope's sleeve to save it.

When she exited her room, the strong, sure hands of her crew didn't take her hands, but grabbed her arms and shoulders, and hoisted her onto the deck. It was a whirlwind of activity and hands, which seemed to say that everything would be fine, and that no foolish Marine would take their captain from them – not while their hands stole her forcibly away from her true duty and kept her at the bow of the ship to lead the way.

The _Going Merry_ went where she pointed, and, for a while, she could immerse herself in their hands, and trust pressing down on their shoulders to help with the load their captain had left behind. They didn't reach for her face to take off her mask or into her body to scrape at the heart in Luffy's own hands.

She found herself picking at his hat one time, and then stopped, inspecting the naturally frayed brim before she went to her room to lay it on her bed. Coming out again, she saw Usopp lying on the deck with some sort of belt in front of him. He was staring at it so fiercely that she almost expected it to burst into flames, but then he blinked and looked at her.

He said, "So what were you two fighting about anyway?"

She ignored the snort of a snore from the resident swordsman, and sat down beside the splayed out teenager. Nami said, "Zolo was being an idiot. He should've just kept the sails out."

"No, not that," he said. "You looked like you were mad at Luffy yesterday."

"Huh?" She abruptly recalled her little stint with the paper which bore the other boy's words, and she said, "Oh, that." Hugging her knees, she propped her chin onto them for a moment before she shrugged a shoulder, "It's nothing. He was the one acting so weird."

"Yeah," Usopp said, and then he fiddled with something on the belt before he frowned, putting it aside to pull out his tabasco sauce and gunpowder. "So what did he draw for you?"

"I don't know, I didn't look at them," she lied.

"How was my picture?"

She smiled, feeling better now that the hands carving into her heart were far from her, and said, "It's much better."

"Than what?" Eyes widening, she stared at him before she laid her cheek on her knees, facing away from him. "You said you didn't look at them."

"I lied," she finally said.

"Yeah," Usopp said, and he sat up to cross his legs to better concentrate on his work. "I thought so. It's hard to lie to a liar." Then he grinned at her, and flicked his nose with a thumb, saying, "Not that I've been known to lie."

She found herself smiling, and she said, "Of course not. You're the most truthful person that I know."

"Oi."

Laughing, Nami wiped at her eyes as moisture formed, and then, poking his nose, she said, "I'm telling the truth now. No lie!"

!#$&()+

There was something on one page that looked like their ship, and on another was a group of four people. She could tell who everyone was on the page. Several pages held images of seagulls, and more had fish.

One was of her.

It didn't look like her, but the striking orange-red hair on the woman could belong to no one else that she knew, and she doubted that he would give her a picture of a woman that he knew but she didn't. She felt charmed by his attempt however, and she had traced the crooked jaw line with a shaking finger.

Below the strange looking woman was:

'_Sorry, I know what you look like, but paper ruins it.'_

This, she folded with the rest, and slid them into the envelope's sleeve before putting it into a navigating book. After a moment, she lifted herself with some effort, going to the door hatch to leave her room, and then stepped out of the storage unit to greet the sun.

The sky was deceptively bright and cheery, and she wondered if he could see it – from wherever he was. Nami wanted rain, she realized, but upon feeling the winds and barometric pressure, she knew that it would be sunny for days to come, and probably for a long time after that as well – just to spite her. It had to have been some sort of joke on her by the sea that she didn't understand.

Why would the day and weather be so beautiful and lively when she felt like an already battered shipwreck tossed about in some lonely storm on the edge of the world? With not a cloud in the sky, she felt rain on her back, lashing over to chill the girl down and past the bones. She felt no discharge in the air but lightning struck her whenever her thoughts turned to him, and though the sun beat down, she knew that the world was truly dark.

A warm wind hit her at full force, and she clutched around herself and was cold.

"It's a joke, right?" She said when she saw Zolo blink awake beside her. He cocked his head up to look at her better before he rolled his shoulders with a crack.

He said, "What's a joke?"

"The weather," she said, starting to feel silly now that she was talking aloud. "It shouldn't be this sunny out right now. It doesn't feel right."

Zolo shrugged, and yawned, not bothering to cover his mouth. While he scratched his cheek with all four fingers of a hand, he said, "If it's a joke, then why aren't you laughing? Jokes are supposed to be funny."

"It's a stupid joke though," Nami said.

"It's better than sitting around and moping about it. This is a hundred times better than a rainy day when you're in a good mood." He said when she didn't answer him, "If someone is wet, isn't it better to appreciate the sunny day than to go out looking for rain to get wetter? It's nice out. Enjoy it while you can."

Her senses told her the weather would be nice for a long time yet, but she couldn't feel the emotional aspects of it, but she supposed that Zolo's odd acronyms had helped marginally. It was a wonderful day, and it would be a crime of the highest caliber not to take pleasure in the sun on her back and the hot wind in her hair. In fact, she went back down to her room to get Luffy's hat to wear so that the sun wouldn't blind her, and she changed into a swimming suit before she stopped herself at her door.

Nami's fingers dug into her tattooed shoulder, and then she touched the hat on her head in deep terror.

_What am I thinking?_ She threw the hat off, and reached for her clothes to change back. _This isn't like me! I need to get my priorities straight again. Forget Zolo. Forget those … __**stupid**__ pictures Luffy and Usopp drew. It's not the paper's fault; it's yours!_

She slammed the door shut as she stomped out onto the deck the second time that day, and she ignored the frown Zolo gave to her. Going into the kitchen, she made herself an icy drink before she went to lounge on the deck. Closing her eyes, she snubbed the urge to retrieve his hat to help shade her eyes from the sun.

It would do no good.

!#$&()+

"_Please," she said, "give it back."_

_Luffy glanced at her that time, but only frowned, "No."_

_She grasped at the dirt, scratching futilely as she watched him with the knife, "It doesn't even look the same anymore, Luffy."_

"_That's a good thing," he said, returning to his gory work._

"_How is that a good thing!?" Nami said, "Stop doing this to me! Why did you take it?"_

"_I didn't take it."_

"_Bullshit!"_

_Shaking hard, she hugged herself, wondering why she could never reach to him or her heart. Gripping the dirt beneath them into a hand, she chucked it wildly at him, wanting to make him leave or at least just return it to her. She would do anything to make him stop scarring it, and slicing wide arches. She had a job to do, and if he kept a hold of it, then she knew that she would never get away._

"_I don't know what to do anymore," she said, dropping her hand to rest her forehead on the ground. "Just give it back before you see it."_

_For she could still see the engraving of Arlong's mark, and her stomach – sliced open and bared as it was – still sickened painfully at the sight. Luffy said, "Then I won't look."_

"_Please, just give it back."_

"_Why do you keep saying that?" Luffy tilted his hat up, raising a thin brow at her, "You're the one that did it."_

"_Shut up! I didn't do anything! You're the one that ripped it out …"_

_He pointed at her gouged out chest with the knife, and said, "You did that yourself."_

_Twitching, she felt her chest cavity with trepidation, "Me …?"_

_Holding her heart out at arm length as if to display it, he smiled, and said to her, "Yes, you did it, Nami." Biting her lip hard, she forced away tears that hadn't fallen in eight years as he said, "You gave it to me."_

_Then, blindly, he sliced off the mark of her tattoo._

!#$&()+

Usopp passed down the soup before he sat with them at the table. They had set it up on the deck due to the nice weather, and they ate mostly in silence before the sharpshooter seemed to be pondering something.

He said, "You know …"

"Hm?"

"Why do you think the Marines are playing along with this?"

Blinking, Nami's spoon paused halfway up to her mouth, and she stared ahead at nothing for a long while before she said, "They shouldn't be …"

"They don't …" Usopp chewed a nail, "They wouldn't wait three days to execute a pirate, would they? Just to let us have a race, I mean."

"I'm not surprised," Zolo said, "and you guys shouldn't be either really."

"What do you mean?"

Tapping his bowl, he said, "They're not so high and mighty that some of their ranks wouldn't be low enough to buy some fame."

She nodded after a moment, saying, "I remember that name now. Captain Zed is a Marine! He must be paying the pirates for their captains' heads. If he and his men keep shut about how they got their hands on them, then all that the Headquarters knows is that Zed caught and killed some pirate captains. They would never know that he sponsored a pirate race, and he'd get a promotion or some kind of recognition for his work."

"If that's the case, then why bother to wait the full three days since he has so many captains? You saw how many crews turned up for the ten million berries. There must be fifty crews out there now."

Dropping her spoon on the table, she shot to her feet, and said, "Increase speed!"

Usopp's eyes widened a second after she said this, realizing what she had, and he and Zolo sprang from the table to get to work, re-securing lines, and adjusting the sails until they gained the most of the wind that they could.

Nami found that she was thanking the weather for the warm, strong winds, and she enjoyed the hands that helped to push her along and the shoulders that began to bear more weight. The sun was up, his hat was safe, and Zolo and Usopp showed just a little bit more of their strength to her.

_Arlong can wait just a bit longer,_ she thought as she helped Usopp with the helm. _I can't leave Luffy yet. He's … special. He doesn't deserve to die like this._

"Hey, Nami," he said then, and she glanced over.

"Yeah?"

He grimaced as he said, "Have you ever heard of a sun rising in the west?"

"No, why?"

"Isn't that where we're going?"

Nami sighed, and said, "That doesn't mean the sun's going to rise in the west, Usopp! It's just a name, you know. Some people just dream too big."

_Luffy made a face at Zolo, puckering his lips and bunching up his cheeks, and said, "That's no fun. You got to think big like Giant Oxen Face River!"_

"Why is it called that though?" He said.

"How am I supposed to know? I only know how to get there." Finally getting the speed that they needed, the two relaxed, but Usopp kept holding the helm to keep it steady as she wiped her forehead. She said after a moment, "When we get there, we can ask Captain Zed after you guys save Luffy."

"_You'd save me."_

"_Zolo can save you," she said. "I'll just point you out to him."_

"_Yeah, and you'd save me."_

The sun fell into the west, and that night, Nami slumped into bed with his hat, fingering the ridges and straw that poked out to prick her. She didn't have the courage to wear it – she who had no claim or justification when she could only imagine departing him after all was said and done.

!#$&()+

_Wow, I feel lazy saying this, but it's the truth, I think. After this chapter, I think there's only going to be two or three more before the story ends. Please, keep reviewing though! I'll be sure to make those chapters worth your while._

**Rockztempo: **_Thank you so much! It's nice to know that people aren't just enjoying the characters or the plot, but that the writing is appreciated too. Thanks for the review!_

**Anne: **_Well … I did put in the summary that it's a friendship story too. It's as much as a friendship story as it is a … Nami coming to terms with her feelings story, and it's hard to do all that if she's just brooding alone in her room or holing herself up in some other corner of the ship. Glad you noticed! I studied up hard in the manga on the placement of rooms in the _Going Merry_, and it __**really**__ helped when Oda drew where all the rooms were in relationship to each other in one of the volumes. Some time in the future, I'm going to write about that rarely used emergency escape from Nami's room to the boys' room too. Mmm, you should probably more like check every other day because it's starting to get easier for me to shoot out these one-shots – and it's definitely enjoyable. Thank you for the review!_

**Ryo Hoshi: **_Of course! Luffy doesn't have a care in the world when it comes to putting his faith in them. Thanks for reviewing!_

**iluvchocs: **_I hope the little twist at the end keeps you interested in the race! Things are about to get ugly. Thanks for the review!_

**wheathermangohanssj4: **_Aw, poor Sanji! I never thought I'd meet a One Piece fan that didn't love all the characters to some high degree – like me (Long live, Mr. 2!). It's nice to know that you're enjoying the story though! Thanks for reviewing!_

**kage karasu: **_Ah? You like the quote, but the heart creeps you out? -confusion- Thanks for the review!_

!#$&()+


	4. Mirror Mirror!

**Scattering Nami's Joy**

_Mirror Mirror!_

_A Grin Without a Girl!_

_We choose our joys and sorrows long before we experience them._

_- Kahlil Gibran_

Luffy tilted his head at a sharp angle, and stared hard at the food the guards had put in front of him. It wasn't much at all, but he figured that he would be able eat enough to suit his appetite. Digging in, he set to work on his meal, his arms lashing out at certain intervals when the other inmates weren't paying too much mind to their food.

However, he didn't take into account that a man in prison didn't turn his back to his food for any reason, and, as such, that his actions were noticeable. Once he figured that he was somewhere near to a decent point in which he could stop eating, a shadow dropped over him. Looking up, he continued to steal food from other plates as he gazed at the man.

"Yeah?"

"Oi, kid," he said, cracking his knuckles. "What the hell do you think you're doing?"

Snatching aside some more food, he said, "I'm eating."

"I can see that!" The pirate shook a fist under Luffy's nose, and said, "Now quit stealing my food or I'll shove this down your throat."

"I don't want to," he said, and – having finished taking what food was left – patted his slightly extended belly, burping in the other man's face. "Ah, sorry."

"You damned brat, I'll pulverize you!" Slamming his fist on top of Luffy's head, he then lifted him up by the front of his loose shirt, shaking him roughly. He said, "Hah! That'll teach you to mess with other men's food."

Once he was tossed out onto the ground, Luffy rolled fluidly onto his feet with a jovial "Hup!" As the men in his cell gaped at him, he grinned, and cracked his knuckles, "Ah, I see! I see! It's time for an after dinner fight then, huh?"

Luffy brought his fist back to strike the man in the face, and sent him through the stone prison wall and outside of the jail. Blinking when his opponent didn't rise, he walked to the hole in the prison wall, and frowned at the unconscious man in the grass.

With a pick of his nose, he said, "That wasn't a very fun fight."

"Oi, brat! What the hell are you?" He turned to look at the other inmates, cocking his head as one advanced to point at him. He said, "People just don't break through solid rock."

He pointed at the man in the grass, "He did though."

"Because you punched him through!"

Laughing, Luffy jested by flexing a bicep, and said, "That's because I've been training to be a pirate."

"What kind of training let's you send people through solid stone!?"

"I'm bored," he said, no longer paying the hyperventilating man any mind, and he then stepped out of their cell to head across the lawn. "See you guys later!"

"Hey! You have to stay in the cell, moron!"

He frowned at them, and said, "That's not one of the rules though. I'm just taking a walk."

The disgruntled captains – with Luffy far enough away that they didn't seem to think he could do them any harm– muttered amongst themselves about the naivety and rashness of youth, but otherwise didn't go after him. Thus, he went on his way, scratching the top of his bare head, and wondered if his crew was taking care of it. Walking along the wall of the Marine base, he listened to the Marines in their drills, but didn't bother to stop and watch. After turning the corner of one wall, he did cease his stroll at the display of a giant mirror mounted on the wall beside which he was standing.

Glancing down the length of the building, he saw that it covered nearly that entire side of the Marine base.

Beginning to smile, he cart wheeled onto his hands, and stood like that in front of the mirror with a chuckle, saying, "Why don't you turn that frown upside down!" With such said, he flipped back onto his feet, and said, "Ha! Much better now, right?" Grabbing his cheeks, he stretched them out to either side, laughing at how he appeared in the mirror.

Seeing that his hat was falling in front of his face in the mirror, he reached up to tip it back before he stopped in confusion, not feeling his hat where the mirror showed it was. The mirror-Luffy continued to tip his hat back however, and then put his hands on his hips. Swallowing dryly, Luffy heard his own voice come out of the other man's mouth, "Yeah, it's all better now!" Mirror-Luffy then blinked in confusion, and said, "Where's Shanks' hat though?"

"Ah!?" Luffy touched the mirror, laying his hand flat against it as he tried to lean in and examine this new phenomenon. "What – what are you? I mean, you're me, right? What am I doing – I mean, what're you doing … What the hell are you!?"

Laughing, mirror-Luffy scratched the back of his neck, and said, "I don't know. What are you? Or … I am you … right?" The two shared a bewildered look before they both chuckled.

"I guess it doesn't matter too much, right?" Luffy said, and then he sat down in front of the mirror, watching himself join him. He reached up to adjust his hat again, but pouted when he remembered that he gave it to his crew.

"So where is Shanks' hat?"

"My crew has it," he said, scratching his cheek.

"Huh," mirror-Luffy crossed his arms, and tilted his head almost to a right angle. "Your … crew?"

He blinked, and said, "Yeah. I'm a pirate."

"Ooh, lucky!" He grinned, slapping his knees, and said, "Grandpa didn't get to you then?"

"Ah? No, I guess not," Luffy said.

Holding up his finger, mirror-Luffy leaned toward him as if sharing a secret, "Grandpa dragged me here to make me sign me up for the Marines." Touching the brim of his hat lightly, he said, "I still want to be the King of Pirates though, you know … I won't let something like this stop me. I'll find a way."

Nodding, he felt his scar – something he hardly ever did, but he felt it was needed in order to remember Shanks since the straw hat was elsewhere. Luffy said, "I'm here because my crew's in a race. I'm part of the prize, I guess. They have to come get me and then head to the finish line."

Pulling off his hat, he sat it in his lap, and said, "That sounds like fun, but now you're stuck waiting."

He laughed, "Yeah, but I made a hole in my cell, so I'm taking a walk."

"Oh, okay," mirror-Luffy laughed along with him until their chuckles dispersed into the air.

Both stood at the same time, and mirror-Luffy put his hat back on his head, adjusting it so that it fit snugly. Luffy said when his mirror-hand seemed to linger sorrowfully on the straw, "What are you going to do about joining the Marines?"

"Well, I thought about running away, but Grandpa's scary." Luffy nodded in agreement without even being aware of it. "So, I'm just going to suck it up until he's not watching me anymore. Then I'll get a great crew, and be the King of the Pirates!"

"What about Shanks' hat?"

He shrugged, and said, "I'll have to hide it. I think Grandpa wants to take it and smash it or something. I'll get it back after I'm a pirate though."

"Yeah," he said. He glanced down the mirror on the building wall, already wanting to move on, and felt the same restlessness in his mirrored counterpart. "I guess I'll see you next time I come by here."

Mirror-Luffy grinned, and said, "Ha, I guess so!"

As they parted ways, Luffy turned the corner, and he had the oddest sense that he was missing something. He stopped, staring across the green grass before he shrugged, and went on his way.

He spotted a set of stairs that led up to the top of a long guard wall, and he ran up the flight of stairs with a grin, looking down the other side of the wall once he was on top. The guard wall surrounded a courtyard, and he took note of the guillotines and the rows of hanging ropes. A tall man was standing beside a guillotine, and grinning sardonically at the gleaming rows of bladed death.

With a turn, he looked to a Marine standing beside him, and said, "Is everything ready for the executions tomorrow morning?"

_Tomorrow?_ Standing onto the ledge of the wall, Luffy shouted down, stunning the Marines into looking up at him, "Oi! You can't kill anyone! It hasn't been three days yet!"

!#$&()+

Nami stared ahead at the vision of the sun rising in the west, struck dumb by the massive mirror that coated the entire wall of the base to give the surreal effect. It almost seemed like a sort of camouflage against marauders from the east, but she knew better, knowing that the true sunrise was behind her as _Merry_ crept toward the bay.

She could see only one Marine ship, and she counted whatever lucky stars were in her orbit when it didn't attempt an assault. However, as far as she could tell, no one was on deck to attack regardless.

_I know it's still early in the morning, but aren't Marines usually up and about by now? What could they be doing?_ The unsettling realization washed over her with the amount of force it took to crush a galleon into the waves. Clutching the rail, she looked at the groggy Usopp, and said, "We have to hurry. The Marines aren't here."

"So? Isn't that a good thing?" Zolo said, wiping sleep from his eyes.

Usopp said, "No, that just means they're somewhere else. It looks like it's all of them! They might be starting the ceremony for the executions."

Nodding grimly, she pointed toward the base, "We have to be at the base ten minutes ago! Get the oars out!"

The oars – having been used almost to exhaustion the day before – were already on deck, so Zolo lifted one to put it over the port-side while Usopp and Nami struggled with the starboard-side. Used in union, _Going Merry_'s speed increased, though it sometimes veered due to Zolo's strength. Once they reached the dock, however, Nami left the oar to the sniper to put it down, and jumped onto the railing before hopping down on the dock.

"Oi, oi, wait, Nami!" Usopp dropped the large oar with a loud crash.

As she ran, she said back to them, seeing that Zolo was putting the anchor in the water like she had always ordered him to do, "Someone has to stop them! Hurry up!"

"We're coming!" Yet, Usopp ran down to the storage unit, and she reached the doors of the Marine base before she glanced back again to see that he had gone to retrieve Luffy's hat. She felt a smile form on her lips, but she pushed it away.

With no one guarding at the gate, Nami merely shoved it open to run inside, taking a pause only to determine her position, and then ran along the side of the building. Nami called over her shoulder, "This way!"

Another look back showed her that Usopp was well on his way to joining her, and she felt some relief in seeing that he was wearing the hat. Her mind swelled with thoughts of seeing Luffy in his hat again however, and her legs quickened. Passing a corner, they ran along the mirrored side of the building, but she nearly tripped over her own legs in astonishment, wanting to swallow her tongue.

She and Usopp did not reflect inside the mirror, and her mind reeled at the implications, but she forced herself to look straight ahead, making herself believe that it was actually a painting and not a mirror like she had believed.

Nami couldn't resist one last glance at the mirror though, and she thought that she saw a pair of grinning teeth and nothing else before they turned the corner. Swallowing dryly, she looked at Usopp to see that he didn't appear shaken at all, and that he must have not noticed the lack of their reflection or the smile dangling in mid-air. _Or I'm going crazy,_ she thought, and she believed that more than her eyes. _Mirrors reflect things! They were made to reflect them, and … and they can't just reflect a smile that I don't have or feel!_

Indeed, for after they ran up a flight of stairs to gain their bearings, the mirrored smile and her own smile was far from her mind.

Luffy – scuffed and scraped like he had been beaten to his knees, and then buried – was standing atop a platform with a noose around his thin neck. Her heart clenched, and she wondered if it was because he had it between his teeth and he would crush it as his body dropped and hung.

_We're too late,_ she thought as a Marine pushed Luffy off the platform.

!#$&()+

_I'm on crack. I mean, that's the only explanation that I have for the new story idea that smacked me in the head. I have the first chapter set and ready to go for when I finish this, and after I upload Nami's birthday story. XP I hate to be cliché with writing this, but … just to warn my wonderful readers, I shall tell you the titles from which I will choose the name of this new story: _

Let Me Apologize to L. Frank Baum

Or

In Which Alastair Loses All Respect and Credibility as an Author

Or

The Wonderful Wizard of Oda

_Which title do you think suits the story best? XP I'm going to hell. I can already smell the sulfur._

**Nuit Fleur: **_XP You know, I think I tried waiting for your review of the second chapter before I realized how silly I was, and just posted the third anyway (I'm impatient like that). Thanks for the review though!_

**kage karasu: **_My, you're all a bunch of flatterers today! Thanks so much! Now then, wait no longer for I have just … posted … the chapter you … just … read …… Now wait some more! Thanks for reviewing!_

**wheathermangohanssj4: **_Well, here's my thing with Sanji. He's not exactly a gentlemen, but he's not a pervert either. Perverts peek on girls and such things, but he's just a diehard for pretty ladies. Sanji acts gentlemanly enough, I think. And Brook hasn't seen a chick in almost fifty years. XP I hardly blame him! Thanks for the review!_

**Gabe Logan: **_:D Why thank you! And thanks for the review!_

**Rakara: **_O.o; Well, I certainly hope so! It's been a long while since a story of mine hasn't made sense. Hmmm … well, the basics is that the Marines can't be trusted to hold their end of the deal of waiting the promised three days to start executing, and the crew realizes this, so they speed up. Of course … I'm only assuming that's what you're confused about, so tell me whether I or this chapter has cleared anything up for you. Thanks for reviewing!_

!#$&()+


	5. Narcissism!

**Scattering Nami's Joy**

_Narcissism!_

_Truth of the Sunrise!_

_We call that person who has lost his father, an orphan; and a widower that man who has lost his wife. But that man who has known the immense unhappiness of losing a friend, by what name do we call him? Here every language is silent and holds its peace in impotence._

_- Joseph Roux_

Luffy had been hanging by the noose, dangling there for almost a minute before Nami realized that she was screaming. Pulling her down, an equally shaken Usopp attempted to consol and silence her even though they had already been spotted, and the Marines were running up toward their position. She sobbed without tears, watching as Usopp had enough sense and respect for their swinging captain to pull out his sling shot to shoot the rope that held him.

His body slumped to the ground and for a second she prayed that his neck hadn't snapped and that he had only been choking a bit – her mind knew, however, that it was impossible. Luffy hadn't struggled against the ropes. He had only swayed ominously above the ground, and, thus, he did not rise.

"I'm not leaving him here!" She said as Usopp tried to drag her away.

Scowling through his own bitter tears, he said, "We can't be caught here either, Nami! We'll come back. It's not like he'll … he's not going anywhere, is he?"

She bit her lip at his atypical cruelty, and then she slapped his cheek, "What's wrong with you? Aren't you his friend? Even if you are all stinking pirates, you're still friends, right!?"

"Not with a corpse," he said, and his hand clamped onto her shoulder, bringing her forcibly down the stairs.

Kicking, she screamed, and tried to dislodge him from her as her mind reeled in grief and shock. _Luffy can't be dead,_ she thought, still not crying, but trembling and sobbing with a dry throat and eyes. Nami clutched at Usopp's unusually powerful hand, prying at his fingers to yank out of his grip, _Something's wrong here …! It's not right!_

Nami jerked her eyes away from the mirror, and then blinked at the grass, no longer feeling Usopp's inhuman grip on her shoulder. As she dared to look up, fearing the worst, her eyes adjusted to stare at the row of men that faced the mirror, not looking away.

"Hey," she said, and she touched the arm of the man beside her only to jolt in surprise when he fell over, still staring into the mirror. "What? What's going on here?" Wobbling slightly, she got to her feet, and looked to her other side to see that Usopp was gazing into the mirror as well. "Usopp? Usopp!" Attempting to shake him into awareness, the boy only collapsed too, still staring ahead at the sheet of glass.

"The girl woke up," someone said, and she looked over toward where some Marines were sitting. Just beyond the mirror, and seemingly at an angle where they could not see the surface. The one that had spoken pointed his gun at her, "Just look back into the mirror, or I'll shoot you."

She said, "What's going on? Why won't Usopp wake up!?"

"It's just the mirror. Look in and see. Everyone that looks in and sees their reflection can't look away again," he said, and then he shrugged. "Well, most people go on looking at it for the rest of their lives, and die like that. It's pathetic – the perfect death for a miserable pirate."

Nami's eyes went down the long line of men again, not yet daring to stare into the mirror to prove them wrong – mirrors couldn't trick people like that! She searched for a familiar face. However, only she and Usopp seemed to be there. Though she suddenly spotted Zolo at the other end of the mirror, and she nearly groaned at how lame his sense of direction was.

Luffy was no where to be seen however.

"I told you to look into the mirror! Get to it!" She heard the cocking of a rifle, and she swallowed hard before her face began to slowly turn until she beamed in delight, spinning in her new mint-green dress.

She said, "I told you that lavender clashes with my hair."

"Mmm," Bellemere said, and then she pointed at her shoes with her cigarette. "I hope you're not going out wearing those clunky things."

"What? What's wrong with my shoes? I like the big heels," she said, sticking out her tongue afterwards.

"Fine," she said, "go and break your ankles. That Marine fellow will just have to dance with you by carrying you in his arms so you don't fall." Nami felt her cheeks heat, and she touched her cheek lightly. "It looks like that's what you're planning anyway though."

"Ah! No, no," Nami waved a hand dismissively at her, and then played with the pleats of the dress. "I can dance just fine without him picking me up."

Bellemere laughed, and said, "All right, if you say so."

There was a knock at the door, and Nojiko winked at her with a grin, saying, "Don't stay out too late again."

Nami flushed, going to the door to answer it with a smile for the man waiting on the other side. When he touched her shoulder lightly, she flinched away, and covered it, blinking in confusion when she realized that her dress was strapless. Looking behind herself slowly, she swallowed hard at the sight of Bellemere sitting at the table.

She said, "What's … going on?"

Nami lurched forward with a whine, and gasped sharply for air, cursing the mirror and Luffy and Usopp and Zolo and anyone else of whom she could think. Mostly though, she cursed Arlong, and she silently shook her head from side-to-side in an effort to lose the false memory of Bellemere.

"She's awake again, Captain Zed! She's just six steps down the way."

Wincing, she looked past Usopp's collapsed form, and saw a man walk down in front of the mirror for six steps before he stopped in front of her. He grabbed her hair, yanking so that she had to look up at him. Facing him squarely, she glared for only a few moments before her eyes widened in alarm.

"You're blind," she said, and then she tried to wrench out of his grip when he attempted to make her look into the mirror again, closing her eyes. "No!"

"Nami!" Her eyes snapped open, overjoyed by the sound of Luffy's voice, but then her eyes met that of herself.

!#$&()+

"Nami!" He said again, his eyes growing wider as she slumped in the man's arms. Luffy focused on the image of his sniper lying beside her, "Usopp! … Ack, you have my hat!"

The Marine – decked out in the sigils of a well-to-do Captain – merely released Nami who relaxed into a sitting position with a breathy sigh. He said without turning to face him, "It's a little late for waking them up. Even if it seems the girl has a stronger spirit than my men thought. Pity, pity."

"What did you do to them!?"

"I am executing them – as is necessary with pirates." He said, "Are you the pirate captain that broke apart our jail cells and escaped?"

"I didn't escape. I just took a walk," Luffy said.

"Pity," he said. "So you're also the one that found out about the executions today, and injured my Lieutenants."

Crackling knuckles, he advanced with steady footing, and said, "They pissed me off."

The Marine Captain laughed very softly, barely the sound of heavy breathing, and then he said, "I'm sorry for that. Not every one here is as amiable as I. Pity that, but never mind. You must still be angry about the young girl. Is she one of your crew?"

"Nami's my navigator."

"Ah, Nami. A sweet, gentle wave on the ocean surface which laps at familiar shores."

Luffy blinked at that, thinking more along the lines of a tsunami which tore through towns without mercy and bore him onto distant lands, but said nothing of what he really thought of her. He said, "Are you an idiot?"

"Certainly not," he said, still not looking at Luffy. "Please, would you look into the mirror at your reflection?"

He raised an eyebrow, but looked at himself, wondering if it was that mirror-Luffy again, but his mirror image wasn't wearing a hat. He said, "Oi, did you hide your hat already?"

The Marine said, "Hat? I told you to look at the mirror, boy."

"I am, and the guy's not wearing his hat anymore," Luffy said, pointing at himself in the mirror. "Just look. Last time he was wearing Shanks' hat."

"I can't look," he said, turning around, and Luffy scratched his head in confusion, not quite understanding the expression. "You might not be close enough to be effected though. Step closer to the mirror."

Luffy cocked his head to the side, and crossed his arms with a sullen frown. He said, "No way. Since you're not keeping to the race's deal, I'm getting my crew, and leaving. This place is pretty boring anyway, and the only one here worth talking to is me."

Scowling, the Marine cracked his knuckles as he stepped forward, and then tripped over a man in his path.

"Eh!? You really are an idiot!"

"No, I'm blind, you dilapidated moron!"

Luffy said, "Same thing."

"How is that the same thing!?"

Picking his nose, the boy said, "You used to talk all polite, but now you're acting pretty rude, huh?"

"_I'm_ rude!?" Standing, the Marine then whipped out a staff which he used to not only feel out what was in his path to walk to Luffy, but swatted the pirates aside with vicious back-swung strikes. He said, "You don't seem to know who you're talking to, kid. A pity that. I'm Captain Zed. I'll be world famous for my research on the mirror's powers and its usage. This will become the ideal place for pirates to be executed. No pain is felt, and they don't even know its happening – it's almost too humane of a death for what they've done to others in their lifetime. Indeed, it's too good for pirates, but it would reflect well on people against the death penalty or those that want more humanitarian methods. When word gets around about the executions started today, they'll _have_ to promote me!"

"Rude, and you talk too much."

Zed grinned, and Luffy found it a bit unsettling that he didn't look directly at him when he smiled, saying, "That's fine by me. It's a pity that you won't know how famous I'll become."

Lashing out his walking staff, Zed hit Luffy's thigh with almost crushing results, but the boy rolled away before he jumped up to his feet, favoring his right leg with a grimace. Gritting his teeth, he kept silent, not wanting to give out his location to the blind man as he snuck around to come toward him at a different angle. Just before he could land a hit, Zed struck again, the butt of his staff jabbed into Luffy's nose.

"Mmngh!" Stumbling back, he grabbed his nose, and tugged it out from his scrunched-in visage before the staff smashed into the side of his head. "Ngaah!"

"Still standing, are you?" Zed smiled, and stepped toward the wincing pirate before he stopped with a slight frown, "Oi, I asked you a question."

"Why the hell would you ask me that!? Figure it out for yourself!" Stretching back his fist, Luffy then drove it forward into the Marine's face, "Gomu Gomu no Pistol!" He didn't feel the satisfying crunch of a nose breaking or the sensation of flesh against his fist though, and, as his arm sprung back, he glanced around. "Ah? Where'd you go?"

The staff hit the back of his head, and Luffy's eyes almost burst out of their sockets from the strength behind it. Hissing, he held the back of his head, and glared at the blind man. Zed said, "Why would you ask me that?"

Luffy swallowed nothing, but he tasted blood in his mouth. Touching his lips, he saw that the impacts to his head had made him bite his cheek without him realizing – the sharp pangs in his head having been much too occupying. He edged away from the older man, coming to realize that there was more to Zed than it appeared. Blind – he couldn't rely on his sight during battles, which left only a few things that Luffy could guess at, which was his hearing and sense of smell.

_I'll just have to beat him to the ground,_ he thought idly, fortifying his stance by distancing his feet for more reliable footing. He twitched his head up when one of the pirates which Zed had hit began to stir and groan. The pirate looked up at Luffy and Zed before his head dropped back down, but the younger pirate realized just what had awoken the man from the mirror's hypnosis.

_Time to wake up first,_ Luffy grinned at Zolo who was on the other side of the building. _If I just wake-_

Yet then Zed charged at him, and he had to dodge with a cry of shock. Ducking under and rolling across the ground, Luffy did his best to keep out of his range. One hit was enough to send his head reeling for at least half a moment – and in a fight, half a moment could kill him five times over.

"Damn it!" He undershot a dodge, and he felt his ribs creak when Zed's walking staff landed hard into his abdomen.

Blunt objects didn't usually hurt him so much, but for some reason – though he didn't look so tough – Zed's blows were like a hammer, crushing Luffy's form. Breathing hard, he back down again, grinding his teeth when he saw that Zed had come between him and Zolo.

_Now, who …? Oh!_ Without thinking about it, Luffy turned around, and stretched out his arm to punch Usopp's shoulder, "Oi! Wake up!"

Zed slashed out, and hit Luffy's temple in his distraction, causing him to crash into the grass and roll a few times before he attempted to rise. As spots danced before his eyes, he planted his fist to the ground, and vied to push himself onto his feet as Zed approached. The man pressed his walking staff in the small of Luffy's back, however, and he nearly fainted, weakly tugging at the grass.

"Ah … aah …"

"Just as the reports have been saying. So you're the new pirate captain with the Devil Fruit ability. I wonder what yours is. It's no use now though," Zed said. "My pole is made of Kairouseki. You'll not escape now. Pity."

"Pity this … pity that …" Luffy said, unable to do little else but twitch, "but I pity you …"

"What?"

"Usopp!" He said, "Wake up Zolo!"

Rising from where he had lain, Usopp blinked at his captain in bewilderment to regain his bearings before he appeared to comprehend enough of the situation to pull out his slingshot. Aiming for only a moment, he shot Zolo, "Hissatsu Rotten Egg Boshi!"

Snorting, Zolo blinked awake, staring blearily at Usopp before he retched, "Eugh! What the hell!? Usopp!"

"Oi, Luffy's in trouble!"

"He's always in trouble," he said, but lurched to his feet anyway. Gripping his swords, he placed a handle into his mouth, and faced Luffy and Zed. "You're such a pain."

"Why did your crew even join this pathetic race if you don't respect your captain?" Zed said.

"Oni" – Zolo shot forward, stopping on the other side of Zed before he sheathed his three katana – "Giri." Kicking Zed and his walking staff away, he offered a hand to Luffy who gladly accepted it. After a moment, Zolo said, "And I was talking to you anyway." He poked the side of the unconscious man's head with his foot, "Why the hell is this place so confusing to walk in!? I was lost for two damn hours!"

"Confusing?" Luffy laughed, and pointed at his first mate, "Idiot, this guy's blind, and I bet even he gets around easier than you!"

"Shut up!"

!#$&()+

_:D For some reason, it seems like it's been a while since I last enjoyed writing something. This chapter was fun to write, in other words. :P I hope you guys enjoyed reading it as much as I liked writing it because the next chapter's going to be the last one …_

**onepiece fanatic: **_Updated! Ah? What'd you lose? Did you drop it around here or something? Thanks for reviewing!_

**CSI Kaizoku: **_:D Fufufu! The identity of the wizard is a secret! Thanks for the review!_

**kage karasu: **_Indeed, only a conundrum such as Luffy could understand something as simple as a Luffy. Or … something … Thanks for the review!_

**iluvchocs: **_Indeed, it does have future significance – though you just read about it all in this sole chapter. Whether I revisit the mirror is another matter, but I don't think I will. I do like it though, so maybe. Indeed, I'm going to stick with _The Wonderful Wizard of Oda_, but maybe _In Which Alastair Loses All Respect and Credibility as an Author_ can be an alternate title. XP Thanks for reviewing!_

**wheathermangohanssj4: **_I know exactly how _I.O.U._ ended. Luffy got a nosebleed because Nami flashed the poor guy. :D What's that got to do with Sanji? Thanks for the review!_

!#$&()+


	6. Nami’s Baby?

**Scattering Nami's Joy**

_Nami's Baby!?_

_His Gentle Touch!_

_When one door of happiness closes, another opens; but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one which has been opened for us._

_- Helen Keller_

She inspected her wedding gown with a nervous shake of her head, swallowing shallowly. Nami looked at Nojiko, and said, "How do I look?"

"Beautiful," she said. "Stop fussing with how you look. You don't see _him_ playing with his hair." Nojiko got up to stand beside her in the mirror, and hugged her from behind, "He would think you'd look great even if you came down the aisle in rags."

"Oh," she said, "the aisle …!"

"Stop worrying or I'll smack you and ruin your make-up."

Touching her hair lightly so that she wouldn't ruin the bun, she said, "Nojiko, am I doing the right thing?"

Her sister tilted her head, and said, "What do you mean? You're crazy about him. You sound like this is some kind of civic duty or something."

"Isn't it?" She said, "I know he saved the village from Arlong, but I … Have I been faking all this time?"

Placing her hands on her shoulders, Nojiko sighed before she said softly, "You should do whatever your heart tells you, Nami. Even if it means letting people you love down."

"I want to run away," she said, and she looked at Nojiko instead of through the mirror, surprised by the smile she saw inside.

"He makes you happy, right?" Nami hesitated, biting her bottom lip, and she put her hands over her lower abdomen protectively, already feeling his hands on her hips.

_His voice tickled her ear as he laughed, "Nami, you're going to get so big!"_

She felt tears spring, but not fall as she said, "Yes."

Nojiko went to the window which led to the front of the house, seeing all the people congregated in front of the house. The wedding would be held in Bellemere's orange grove, and she didn't know how she would escape if they all watched as she ran. Nami peeked out the back door of the house, and she suddenly grinned.

"It's clear this way," she said. "I'm going for it."

With a nod, she smiled winningly at Nami, and said, "I'll distract them once they start to get restless. You'll have all the time in the world."

"Thank you, Nojiko."

"Just go already," she smiled, and waved. "Be happy."

_I will,_ she thought as she left Bellemere's house, going down the road to the empty village. Everyone had turned up for the wedding, and she knew that once she was in the village that there would be no one to stop her from reaching happiness. Lifting her skirts to help speed her way, she ran down the road, disregarding her shoes with an almost violent kick to throw them off. When she saw the ocean, her smile lightened, blooming into pure delight.

In the newly reconstructed harbor, a small ship was pulling in to land.

"Luffy!" Once she reached the dock, she jumped easily onto the railing, panting softly as the crew looked up in surprise at the woman in the wedding gown on their ship.

He looked up, grinning – always grinning – and said, "Nami, what's with the dress? Are you married now?"

"No," she said, clutching at her skirts with shaking hands as she finally stepped down to the deck. Nami edged toward him, swallowing nervously, and doing her best not to cry. She had long gotten over tears – or so she had thought.

"Hm? You're not?" He scratched his scar, and said, "You told me you were going to marry that guy … That's what you said, right?"

Taking a deep breath, she said, "I think I lied." Luffy's chin twitched up a bit, and his smile grew while he finally came to approach her. "I don't want to be here anymore. I want to be with you, and travel with you …" At last, she felt tears line her eyes, "Luffy, I want to raise the baby with you. It's yours! I'm sorry that I lied, but it's yours."

Scooping her into his arms, Luffy cradled her bridal-style to his chest, and smiled into her neck, "I know."

!#$&()+

Zolo tossed aside the last pirate, snorting before he glanced at Luffy beside Nami. He said, "Hurry up. We don't have all day."

Away from the mirror so that he would not see his reflection, Usopp said, "We woke up easy enough. What's taking you with Nami, Luffy? It should be easy now."

"Nami's scary though," he said, wiggling his fingers at them. "I got to wake her up slowly, or she'll get mad and smack me and then charge me."

Nodding then in understanding, Usopp sweated slightly, "Yeah, you're right. She'd give a hefty price for waking her up too early. Be – besides! She looks like she's enjoying her illusion anyway."

"All the more reason to wake her up," Luffy said, and he blanched at the captain.

"What …?" While Luffy continued in his efforts to gently awaken the navigator, Usopp then glanced at Zolo, and said, "How do you think that Luffy's able to look at his reflection anyway? You'd think he'd be the first to go down."

"He's a simple guy," Zolo said at length.

Usopp sighed, and said, "That's what I'm saying. That's why he shouldn't be able to just look straight at his reflection and not zonk out like the rest of us."

"That's what I mean though," he said. "Since he's so simple, he sees it as what it really is." He tapped the building as though he were tapping the mirror instead, and said, "We're clouded, but Luffy knows exactly what he's looking at, and he can't be fooled by a mere image."

"Nami," Luffy said, finally just giving a gentle shake to her shoulder. "It's daytime. You have to be awake now."

Her lips parted, and his eyes zeroed in on them for a moment before she said sleepily, "… raise … yours …"

He tilted his head, and said, "Huh?"

Cupping a hand to his mouth, Zolo said, "Oi, Luffy, I can hear the Marines stirring. Just pick her up, and let's go. I don't want to overstay our welcome in front of the mirror."

With a little grin at the prospect of a fight, Luffy carefully looped one arm under her knees, and then under her torso before he was surprised by her hands on his shoulders. Nami sighed, and laid her head against his neck. As his blood hammered unexpectedly from the familiar way she was laying against him, she said, looking up at him, "I'm sorry that I lied, but it's yours."

Luffy blinked, and said, "What's mine?"

"The baby is, Luffy."

His grip tightened, wondering in his addled shock just what he might have been doing in his sleep without his knowing before he realized that she still might be within her dream. He said, "Wait, what? Oi, oi, Nami, you're awake now!" Patting her cheek lightly, he said, watching her blink rapidly until her cheeks abruptly heated bright red, "You awake now?" He grinned when she stared at him in mortification, "There's no baby. Let's go."

Nami looked as if she might either scream and kill him or cry and hug him. She seemed to go for a mix of the two, gripping him with death-like vice, and she said, "Damn it, Luffy, I thought you died! I wasn't sure what was real or not anymore. This is real, right?" She pinched his shoulder, and he jumped.

"Oi! You're supposed to pinch yourself, Nami!" He pinched her arm hard, and she yelped, pulling on his cheek.

"You jerk, don't pinch me!"

"Oi! Oi!" They looked at Usopp, blinking as he waved at them, "Let's go already! The Marines are coming."

With a grin, Luffy nodded, standing with Nami still in his arms, and ran after them. Nami clung to him, gaping up at his laughing face, and he opted not to remind her that she could run on her own. _Because I can't,_ she seemed to say to him. _Not anymore._

His grip tightened again, and his forehead touched hers briefly while the crew ran. Except his gesture made their heads rattle against each other instead, and she bopped his head afterward, "Hey, watch it, Luffy!"

"Sorry," he said, and he didn't try it again.

!#$&()+

Baratie loomed over _Merry_, and as Nami rolled her maps in preparation in the crow's nest, she heard Luffy finally slump onboard after a long day's work in the restaurant. She had promised herself that she wouldn't look at him that night as it might deter her escape, but she couldn't help it, and she looked over the rail regardless.

Spotting her face in the darkness, Luffy waved with an ever tireless smile, and she deigned to smile back. His arm stretched up, and caught the crow's nest to pull himself up and join her. As he sat on the floor of the nest, he leaned back, and crossed his legs.

Nami sat beside him after putting her maps into neat order in her bag. She said while his eyes began to droop, "You should go to bed."

"I know," he said. "I wanted to ask you something though."

Blinking, her mind raced with all the things he might have wanted to know. Did he suspect her of treason finally? Would he want to know about what exactly her mirror-dream had entailed? Nami said, dreading the worst, "Okay, ask."

"Did you like my pictures?"

Her eyes widened, and she almost reached up to smack him for fretting her so, but found that she didn't have the energy for it. She just stared at him for a long while, and didn't dare to tell him that his horrible little pictures were in the bag next to him and that they were all carefully folded into an envelope in a hidden pocket. "Luffy," she said, "I don't think your talents lie in your drawing ability."

"I know," he laughed, and he seemed to doze against the rail of the crow's nest for a moment before he said, "Are you going to keep them though?"

"Yeah," she said. She smiled tenderly as his eyes slid shut, and he was so quiet for so long that she thought that Luffy might have surrendered into dreamland, breathing steadily.

Yet, he said, "Will you leave the emergency door open tonight?"

Nami shook her head after a moment, and said, "Sorry, there's no need to, right?" He looked up at her, appearing much more awake as she said, "Besides, I … I always have a door open." She bit her lip, wondering if he could see through her lie, "That's what you told me in your note, remember? Inside – even if the doors on the outside are shut tight."

"I remember," he said, scratching his nose as he sat up straight, and facing away from her.

"Luffy …"

Turning, he smiled at her, "Yeah?"

"Thank you," she said.

At this, he tilted his head, and then rotated his entire body around to sit in front of her, "For what?"

Nami shrugged, and then, smiling beatifically, she said, "Everything. I love it here on this ship. I've never had so much fun … or, at least, it's been a while. I love it here." _Tell me to stay, and I will,_ she thought, hoping that he would hear her in the recesses of his subconscious.

Luffy just smiled wide, and leaned forward to kiss her cheek. He said to her stunned visage, "You didn't have to thank me for that!"

When Luffy left her - staring at him with an odd mix of sorrow and happiness - she touched her cheek in the dark. In her mind, she imagined him saving her, coming back up to sweep her off her feet, and tell her to stay. He never returned though, but she pretended for just a few moments on how he had felt when he had held her - in her dreams and in reality.

With a heavy blush, she wondered if she had any memories from her last dream about how that child had come to be, but she could only pull up blanks. All there was in her mind was childish fantasies that couldn't possibly have occurred.

Sighing, she lifted her head to gaze up at nothing, viewing only that smiling face as he leaned in, and the inexplicable need she had felt rise. It was her only true view into the life that she was leaving behind. The touch had been chaste though, and he hadn't lingered. _Of course,_ she thought, _it was nothing more than a brotherly gesture._ Nevertheless, she realized that she had wanted more gentle touches and kisses from him, and Nami then thought, _That's why this is for the best. I don't need him as a distraction, and I won't be one for him either. He has a big dream, and I'll only be a footnote from his past._

His pure heart and his tall, straight shoulders wouldn't last long in her presence, and she wanted to keep him in that state for as long as possible. She wouldn't do that to him.

His light touch had been a good omen. Never mind the fact that Captain Zed had never actually planned to give out that prize money for the race or that her mirrored illusions had been so taunting of what she might have had. She would leave with a fine memory of this ship, and Nami could hold onto everything that had happened on the _Going Merry_, knowing that she could smile just a little brighter – even if it wasn't from the very depths of her soul.

This night, to get to her room, she went straight down the mast, and then kept going, opening the door to the boys' bunk, and entering silently. Passing their sleeping forms, she lifted Luffy's hat from where it had fallen in his slumber, and then laid it on his chest. He stirred long enough to look at her, and then he held his hat close as he fell back into sleep, mumbling about eating a whale.

Rather than feel sad, she just giggled a bit, going to Zolo to straighten his blanket. At Usopp, she stopped to fix some errant strands of curly, looping hair.

Opening the emergency door, Nami climbed into her room, and then closed it with a little click before she locked it.

"Good night," she said through her closed door, touching it while her other hand reached to the cheek he had touched – not in love, lust, nor infatuation, but because he had wanted to open a door.

The doors of Nami's heart had to be kept shut, however.

As an officer of Arlong's crew, and until the day she could buy her life and village back, that's the way they would have to remain. Nojiko, Bellemere's orange grove, and the village came first. After all was said and done, she might return to him with all her doors open wide and with a smile that truly mirrored his.

_Just wait,_ she pulled down the covers, and climbed into bed with weary eyes. _I want to come back some day to see you … if you want to have me back. Arlong has all of me right now. So please. Wait for me._

_You can keep my heart until then._

!#$&()+

_Happiness comes from spiritual wealth, not material wealth ... Happiness comes from giving, not getting. If we try hard to bring happiness to others, we cannot stop it from coming to us also. To get joy, we must give it, and to keep joy, we must scatter it._

_- John Templeton_

!#$&()+

**THE END**

!#$&()+

_Gah, I had the hardest time with this ending. It was so disjointed before I was finally able to make something of it. It still seems really scattered and everywhere, but now it's a lot better than it had been. There's a train of thought there now where there hadn't been before, and that's better than the disjointed crap that was strewn every which way._

_Again, I'd like to thank all of you for being such a big support in my writing. I love reading your reviews, and they're always loved. Thank you!_

**Nuit Fleur: **_ XP I think I almost tried to wait again! I figured that you might be busy though. :P Indeed, I've been rather out of it all week, so it's a miracle that I put out two chapters last week. Next week is the story for Nami's birthday! Oh, did you really think he was hurt or something? Honestly! For shame! Put some faith in Luffy – he'll always pull through! Of course, that was an illusion of the mirror, so it's nice that I managed to trick you slightly, hm? (Is evil like that.) Thanks for the review!_

**kage karasu: **_Yup! I hope it wasn't too … awkward. This whole story has felt like that since almost the beginning. I think it wrapped up well enough though … Thanks for the review!_

**iluvchocs: **_XP Indeed, it is accurate. The mirror was fun to play with, so I might play with a stronger version of the mirror in a later story, but for now, I think I'll let it rest. Though I love the idea behind it. Thanks for reviewing!_

**wheathermangohanssj4: **_In truth, I've had that Marine Luffy idea long before _A Log Pose to Nami_ was born in the recesses of my mind. It's still turning around up in my head, but I'd like to know more about Luffy's family and how it really works before I write it. I only put it here in this story as his mirror image for a teaser. I probably won't learn anything about D. this year from Oda though, so we all will have a long ass wait for that story – maybe, anyway, I do know of one way to write it in which I won't need information about D., but it might give the story an added oomph that would otherwise be missing. Thanks for the review!_

_Thanks again, everyone!_

_Next on the list of stories coming up is the one about Nami's Birthday, but … I have a minor problem concerning that. I need a title … Any thoughts, please? XP I'm lost on this one._

!#$&()+


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